An interesting caterpillar caught my attention, as I found it in our front yard (this picture was taken a while ago sometime in May. Enlarged photo can be seen by clicking it). The caterpillars have 11 body segments (three thorax and eight abdomen). The thoracic segments carry three pairs of (real) legs and the abdominal ones varying numbers of pseudopods.
This guy looks so pretty; it is covered with very different types of hairs. Two bundles of dark long hairs in the head look like horns, and a similar one in the tail. In the center, four tufts of short white hairs on the back (tussock) are also a feature very unique to this group of insects. On the two segments before the tail are bright red glands. Hmm.
This is a juvenile of Tussock moth (Order Lepidoptera; Family Lymantriidae). They are voracious herbivore. Their mother has no wing, thus flightless. How do they show off such beautiful hair decoration without going into an expensive salon? This could be a warning coloration. Some bugs warn other predators by exposing them more visibly. Once predators learnt that they are not very tasty, they would not bother this kind of prey in the future. Another wonder of mother nature. =°|°=
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